Detection of cracks in dried spaghetti using transmission images

Elucidation of the mechanism by which the internal structure of food controls the quality

Several of the existing food manufacturing processes are based on empirical knowledge, and not many are rationally designed and operated based on a sufficient understanding of the underlying phenomena. Drying and rehydration processes are one such example of this, and a new method for measuring the moisture distribution was developed, focusing on the fact that the brightness of food varies depending on its moisture content. Using this method, new mechanisms of water transfer inside food were proposed based on the rehydration process of noodles. In addition, as a new analysis method for understanding of extremely complex phenomena, we suggest the "artificial intelligence comprehensive and reverse analysis methods". As a future prospect, we discussed the possibility that this method could contribute to elucidating various unknown complex phenomena.

Performance and mechanism of an innovative humidity-controlled hot-air drying method for concentrated starch gels: A case of sweet potato starch noodles

The effects of humidity control on dried starch gels were investigated using starch noodles as a model. A two-stage innovative hot-air-drying regime was developed with the first stage humidity-controlled (70 °C, 60% RH) and the second at high temperature (100 °C). The proposed drying method is comparable to natural-air-drying in product quality and to conventional hot-air-drying (70 °C) in production efficiency. The operating humidity of the first stage predominated the swelling index and rehydration ratio of dry noodles as well as the hardness and chewiness of cooked noodles. The results from XRD, DSC, SEM, digital microscopy and low field TD ¹H NMR evidenced that these outcomes were largely ascribed to the higher shrinkage, lower porosity, smoother surface, lesser shape deformation and higher starch retrogradation resulting from increased humidity. The results reported herein are valuable for regulating the physicochemical properties of dried starch gels and glimpsing the underlying mechanisms of related operations.